File 2964 - Interviews with Electrohome employees.

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Interviews with Electrohome employees.

General material designation

Parallel title

Other title information

Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

Level of description

File

Reference code

SCA207-GA186-51-2964

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • [198-], 1982, 1995-1996 (Creation)
    Creator
    Electrohome

Physical description area

Physical description

17 audio cassettes (ca. 14 hr., 36 min.)

Publisher's series area

Title proper of publisher's series

Parallel titles of publisher's series

Other title information of publisher's series

Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series

Numbering within publisher's series

Note on publisher's series

Archival description area

Name of creator

Administrative history

Electrohome Limited was an international manufacturer of home electronics, appliances, furniture, and high-tech commercial projection and display systems, and an investor in television broadcasting, based in Kitchener, Ontario.
In April 1933, Arthur B. Pollock formed Dominion Electrohome Industries Limited with the purchase of the combined assets of two of his companies, Pollock-Welker Limited and the Grimes Radio Corporation Limited. His son Carl became general manager. The company, commonly called Electrohome, originally had three manufacturing divisions: radio and communications, appliances and metal products, and furniture and woodworking. It became a publicly traded company in 1946.
Over the next several decades, Electrohome produced a growing diversity of consumer and commercial products, including furniture (using the brand name Deilcraft); fans, humidifiers, and other appliances; electric motors; stereo hi-fi consoles; television receivers; and organs. Carl A. Pollock, who had replaced his father as president in 1951, implemented organizational change to manage the increasingly complex company. The operating divisions became Deilcraft, Electrohome Products, Motors and Metal Products, and Defence and Industrial Contracts; staff divisions were Design, Finance and Accounting, Industrial and Public Relations, and Purchasing and Customs. In the mid-1960s, the management structure was further decentralized, and operating divisions now included Private Trade Label, Product Styling, Motor and Metal Products, Consumer Products Merchandising, Consumer Products Engineering and Manufacturing, Deilcraft, and Distributor Products.
In 1967, the company’s name was officially changed to Electrohome Limited. In 1969, Carl’s son John A. Pollock was made vice-president, electronic products and was elected to the board of directors, and in 1972 became president. When Carl retired in 1974, Donald S. Sykes took over as chairman. The late 1970s and early 1980s saw more management changes: James Holmes joined the company as chairman and CEO from 1976 to 1979, and Stewart Maclellan as president and CEO in from 1979 to 1982, at which time John A. Pollock assumed the role of chairman and CEO. During that time, Electrohome abandoned television manufacturing and the electronics division focused on commercial and industrial products, including specialized video and data display monitors and large-screen projection television. Electrohome also entered new fields, including reverse osmosis/ultrafiltration systems and video-game monitors. It was also briefly involved with ventures in satellite television and videotex hardware. By the end of the 1980s, the company withdrew completely from the manufacturing of consumer products to focus on the two remaining business segments: broadcasting and commercial data and video projection and display systems.
Electrohome’s interest in broadcasting began in 1970 with the formation of Electrohome Communications Inc. to acquire Central Ontario Television Limited (later CAP Communications), the Kitchener broadcasting company formed by Carl A. Pollock, Kitchener-Waterloo Broadcasting Limited, and Famous Players Canadian Corporation Limited in 1953. The company, which operated CKCO-TV, CKKW-AM and CFCA-FM, was expanded in 1988 with the purchase of Sunwapta Broadcasting in Edmonton. In 1997, Electrohome sold these broadcasting operations as well as its interest in CTV to Baton Broadcasting Inc. for cash and shares in Baton.
In 1987 when Electrohome introduced the ECP 1000 single lens colour data and graphics video projector, the first of its kind in the world, the company soon became a leader in the field. The Display Systems business focused on monochrome and colour monitors and high-performance LCD monitors; it became a leading supplier for medical imaging and financial trading rooms. The Projection Systems business produced large screen colour video projection systems for data and graphics with developments in LCD and DLP (digital light processing) technologies. The 1999 acquisition of two smaller high-tech companies allowed Electrohome to also enter the fields of advanced visualization/virtual reality and digitized audio systems.
In 1998, Electrohome was divided into two entities, Electrohome Limited and Electrohome Broadcasting Inc. (EBI). The display and projection businesses were sold in 1997 and 1999 respectively and in 2004 the last manufacturing plant and head office building on Wellington Street in Kitchener was sold. For a time, Electrohome remained a holding company, and then in 2007, it sold its trademarks and in 2008 the corporation’s shares were cancelled and delisted. Electrohome maintains an office in the Wellington Street building and is in the process of dissolving.
Electrohome once employed 4400 people in almost 1.6 million square feet of factories and service areas in Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge, as well as sales offices throughout Canada and the US and in Europe. It also established manufacturing facilities in Tennessee and Malaysia. Over the years, Electrohome formed, acquired, and partnered with many other companies, including: Raytheon Corporation (Waltham, MA), Campbell Electric (Brantford, ON), Hawkesville Lumber Limited (Hawkesville, ON), Fry and Blackhall Limited (furniture manufacturer in Wingham, ON), Flexsteel Industries (Canada) Limited (upholstered furniture manufacturer in Stratford, ON), Lightning Circuits and Planar Circuits (Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON), Brinkley Motor Products Company (Brinkley, AR), Gensat Communications Corporation (Toronto, ON), Display Technologies (Carthage, MO), Robotel Electronique (Laval, QC) and Fakespace Systems (Kitchener), which eventually merged with Mechdyne Corporation (Marshalltown, IA).

Custodial history

Scope and content

File consists of 17 audio cassettes containing interviews with former Electrohome employees and members of the Pollock family. Includes interviews with John A. Pollock, Barbara Steele (daughter of Carl A. Pollock), and Alex Welker (partner of Arthur B. Pollock), as well as interviews with former employees, some of whom began working at the company in the 1920s and 1930s. Most interviews were conducted in 1996 by Ray Stanton and Nicola McLaughlin as part of the research for the company history by Stanton, Visionary Thinking: The Story of Canada's Electrohome.

The cassettes included are:
1. Interview with Alex Welker (1) (ca. 1 hr., 1 min.).
2. Interview with Alex Welker (2) (ca. 25 min.).
3. Interview with five retired employees by Gary McLaren. (Employees interviewed and start dates: Agnes Ellert - 1931, Gord Fowler - 1937, Harvey Durst - 1937, Clyde Hymler - 1931, John Koegler - 1921) (ca. 1 hr., 33 min.).
4. Interview with John A. Pollock, William McGregor, by Ray Stanton regarding company history book (ca. 39 min.).
5. Interview with Albert Lukan by Nicola McLaughlin (ca. 37 min.). (Lukan started in 1955)
6. Interview with Les Rowsell by Nicola McLaughlin (ca. 45 min.). (Rowsell started in 1945)
7. Interview with Dave Lowater, Herb Lapier by Nicola McLaughlin; interview with Doug Wismer by Ray Stanton (ca. 44 min.).
8. Interview with Robert Lovell by Nicola McLaughlin (ca. 1 hr., 29 min.).
9. Interview with Don Harrold, Jim Washburn by Nicola McLaughlin (ca. 34 min.).
10. Interview with Donald Sykes by [Ray Stanton ?] (ca. 31 min.).
11. Interview with Al Zettle, Anne Livingstone by Nicola McLaughlin (ca. 25 min.). (Livingstone started in 1954)
12. Interview with Mr. & Mrs. Runge by Nicola McLaughlin (ca. 1 hr., 10 min.). (Started in 1945)
13. Interview with Quarter Century Club members (ca. 45 min.).
14. Interviews with Quarter Century Club members at annual dinner (ca. 25 min.).
15. Interview with Barbara Steele by Ray Stanton (1) (ca. 1 hr., 34 min.).
16. Interview with Barbara Steele by Ray Stanton (2), and miscellaneous (ca. 53 min.).
17. Interview with John A. Pollock by Ray Stanton (ca. 1 hr., 7 min.).

Notes area

Physical condition

Audio cassettes have been transferred to CD-R for preservation purposes.
Many recordings are of very poor quality.

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

Language of material

Script of material

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

Restrictions on access

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Finding aids

Associated materials

Related materials

Accruals

Alternative identifier(s)

Standard number area

Standard number

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Control area

Description record identifier

Institution identifier

Rules or conventions

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

Language of description

Script of description

Sources

Accession area

Related subjects

Related people and organizations

Related places

Related genres